Growing Pumpkins

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Pumpkins

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Whether you use them for carving or cooking, pumpkins do not disappoint. Here’s how to plant, grow, and harvest pumpkins!

Did you know pumpkins have been grown in North America for almost 5,000 years. It’s a lot of fun to grow this American native. However, note that pumpkins do require a long growing season (generally from 75 to 100 frost-free days) so you need to plant them by late May in northern locations to early July in extremely southern states.

Wait until ALL danger of frost has passed and the soil is warmed, as the seedlings of this tender crop will be injured or rot. Find your local frost dates here.

That said, pumpkins are easy to maintain if you have the space.

Of autumn’s wine, now drink your fill;

The frost’s on the pumpkin, and snow’s on the hill.

–The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1993

Planting

Selecting a Site

Pick a site with full sun (to light shade) and lots of space for sprawling vines. Vine varieties need 50 to 100 square feet per hill.

However, if your garden space is limited, no worries! Plant pumpkins at the edge of the garden and direct vine growth across the lawn or sidewalk. The vines will only be bothersome for a few weeks. You can also grow pumpkins in big 5 to 10 gallon buckets! Or, try miniature varieties.

Pumpkins are big, greedy feeders. They prefer very rich soil that is well-drained and not too soggy. Mix lots of compost and aged mature into the planting site before you sow seeds or transplant. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.

Planting by Seed

Pumpkins do best when the seeds are planted directly in the ground.

If your growing season is very short, seed indoors in peat pots about 2 to 4 weeks before last spring frost. Be sure to harden off before transplanting.

Wait until the plant soil is 70ºF or more before sowing seeds. Optimum soil temperature is 95ºF. Pumpkins are very sensitive to the cold.

Plant seeds in rows or “pumpkin hills,” which are the size of small pitcher mounds. With hills, the soil will warm more quickly and the seeds will germinate faster. This also helps with drainage and pest control.

Prepare the hills in advance with an abundance of old manure dug deep into the ground (12 to 15 inches). If you don’t have manure, loosen the soil and mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost

Larger varieties can be trained upward on a trellis, too—though it is an engineering challenge to support the fruit—usually with netting or old stockings.

If your first flowers aren’t forming fruits, that’s normal. Both male and female blossoms need to open. Be patient.

Bees are essential for pollination, so be mindful when using insecticides to kill pests. If you must use, apply only in the late afternoon or early evening, when blossoms are closed for the day. To attract more bees, try placing a bee house in your garden.

Pumpkin vines, though obstinate, are very delicate. Take care not to damage vines, which reduces the quality of fruit.

Pump Up Your Pumpkins!

Pumpkins are HEAVY feeders. Regular treatments of manure or compost mixed with water will sustain good growth.

Fertilize on a regular basis. Use a high nitrogen formula in early plant growth. Fertilize when plants are about one foot tall, just before vines begin to run. Switch over to a fertilizer high in phosphorous just before the blooming period.

Pinch off the fuzzy ends of each vine after a few pumpkins have formed. This will stop vine growth so that the plant’s energies are focused on the fruit.

Pruning the vines may help with space, as well as allow the plant’s energy to be concentrated on the remaining vines and fruit.

Gardeners who are looking for a “prize for size” pumpkin might select the two or three prime candidates and remove all other fruit and vines.

As the fruit develops, they should be turned (with great care not to hurt the vine or stem) to encourage an even shape.

Place a thin board or heavy cardboard under ripening melons and pumpkins to avoid decay and insect damage.

Harvest/Storage

Your best bet is to harvest pumpkins when they are mature. They will keep best this way. Do not pick pumpkins off the vine because they have reached your desired size. If you want small pumpkins, buy a small variety.

A pumpkin is ripening when its skin turns a deep, solid color (orange for most varieties).

When you thumb the pumpkin, the rind will feel hard and it will sound hollow. Press your nail into the pumpkin’s skin; if it resists puncture, it is ripe.

Harvest pumpkins and winter squashes on a dry day after the plants have died back and the skins are hard.

To slow decay, leave an inch or two of stem on pumpkins and winter squash when harvesting them.

To harvest the pumpkin, cut the fruit off the vine carefully with a sharp knife or pruners; do not tear. Be sure not to cut too close to the pumpkin; a liberal amount of stem (3 to 4 inches) will increase the pumpkin’s keeping time.

Handle pumpkins very gently or they may bruise.

Pumpkins should be cured in the sun for about a week to toughen the skin and then stored in a cool, dry bedroom, cellar, or root cellar—anywhere around 55ºF.

If you get a lot of vines and flowers, but no pumpkins, you need more bees in your garden to pollinate the flowers. Grow some colorful flowers next to your pumpkin patch this year and you may get more bees and butterflies!

The yellowish pumpkins will soon come handy to give the cows. They help out the fall feed, and if there is anything better for cows in milk we should like to know it.

Recommended Varieties

Miniature pumpkins: ‘Jack Be Little’ miniature pumpkin variety, perfect for a holiday table. Vine variety. Days to maturity: 90 to 100 days. ‘We-B-Little’ is an All-America Selection winner, and ‘Munchkin’ is another great miniature pumpkin. Miniature pumpkins are very productive and easy to grow, sometimes producing up to a dozen fruits per plant.

Pumpkins for carving: ‘Autumn Gold’ great for carving, decorating. All-America Selection winner. Vine variety. Excellent for Jack-o-Lanterns. Days to maturity are generally 100 to 120 days.

Giant pumpkins: ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant’ jumbo variety can grow to 200 pounds. Great for those who want to grow a giant pumpkin. Vine will spread to 25 feet, so space is a must. Days to maturity are 130 to 160 days, so plant early! Thin to the best one or two plants. Feed heavily but keep cultivation shallow. Remove first 2 or 3 female flowers after the plants start to bloom so that the plants grow larger with more leaf surface before setting fruit. Allow a single fruit to develop and pick off all female flowers that develop after this fruit has set on the plant. Take care that the vine doesn’t root down near the joints to avoid breakage.

Perfect pumpkins for pies: ‘Sugar Treat’ semi-bush hybrid. Ideal for cooking and baking. Days to maturity are generally 100 to 120 days. ‘Hijinks’ and ‘Baby Bear’ are both All-America Selection winners and have sweet flesh for pumpkin pie. ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ is also perfect for pies or soups. ‘Peanut Pumpkin’ also produces very sweet flesh and can be great in pumpkin pie or pumpkin puree.

Photo Credits: National Garden Bureau. On the left, ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ pumpkins. On the right, ‘Peanut Pumpkin’.

Colorful pumpkins: ‘Jarrahdale’ has blue-green skin and makes for great decorations. ‘Pepitas Pumpkin’ is orange and green, and ‘Super Moon’ is a large white pumpkin.

Photo Credits: National Garden Bureau. On the left, a ‘Jarrahdale’ pumpkin. On the right, a ‘Pepitas Pumpkin’.

Cucubits, such as pumpkins, are subject to an ongoing myth—that planting different family members or varieties will result in strange fruit. Actually, it is the seeds resulting from cross-pollination that are corrupted, so this is a factor only if you are planning to save seeds for next year’s planting.

Carving Pumpkins

Pumpkins have become a traditional Halloween decoration and treat in the United States.

Inscribe messages on growing pumpkins with a large nail. The letters will scar over while the pumpkins grow and will still be visible at harvesttime.

pumpkins

Good evening! We have some BIG pumpkins growing and I just noticed that a few are splitting at the base... what causes this? We have had very warm temperatures but the garden is well watered. Bugs? Help?! Thank you for your time and assistance !! Have a wonderful evening!

splitting pumpkins

Giant pumpkins may split during the period of rapid growth, usually around July and August. Depending on the position of the fruit in relation to the stem and vine, it can cause splitting. Time your fertilizer and watering at a consistent, moderate pace throughout the growing season. It also helps to avoid splitting by protecting the growing fruit with shade cloth (but not the plant, which needs the full sun); shading helps to keep the skin of the fruit more flexible. Carefully support the vine as it meets the stem; some gardeners detach the secondary roots along the vine for about the length of 3 leaves, so that the vine can lift as the pumpkin grows in height. If small splits start, reduce watering and fertilizing, and apply a fungicide. Deeper cracks may invite rot.

Ripe Pumpkins

It is not all that unusual for pumpkins to start ripening in late August or early September. Weather can be an influence. Leave them on the vine for as long as possible, and plan to cure them before storing.

early harvest

It is sometimes difficult to time the planting pumpkins so that they mature right around October; it can be a juggling act of variety (which can affect days to maturity), environmental conditions, and other factors. See above article for signs of when to harvest pumpkins (such as even coloring, skin has lost its initial shine, tendrils nearest the fruit are withered). If it appears that your pumpkins are fully ripe, it might be best to harvest them now, as keeping them in the pumpkin patch may encourage disease, insects, and animals. Follow the storage guidelines in the above article. Before curing, it may help discourage bacteria if you wash the pumpkin with a solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, and remove dirt etc. Once cured, store in a cool, dry, dark place, with good air circulation. Temperature should be about 50 to 55F, and relative humidity about 50 to 75 percent. Do no store with apples. Under proper conditions, the pumpkins may last 2 to 3 months.

I have two pumpkin plants

I have two pumpkin plants that are having trouble. The both grew long vines (maybe 20 feet) and seemed healthy at the beginning of the summer. Sometime last month though, the parts of the plants closest to the root started wilting and turning yellow. Now those leaves are dying. Further out on the vines the plants seem healthy enough. My baby pumpkins are not maturing either. They get to be about an inch in diameter and then turn yellow and die before the flower blooms. I have had three survive to see the flower bloom, and those are growing just fine. I have seen a couple spotted cucumber beetles, but there doesn't seem to be any damage to my leaves. Any idea what's wrong or how I could help them along?

same problem

I am having the same problem with 1 inch few day old pumpkins starting out yellow and dying. They start as normal from a seemingly healthy plant but the stem turns yellow as does the pumpkin which then shrivels up and dies.

poor fruiting

Sometimes pumpkins can abort when just forming due to poor pollination. They may also be affected by too much moisture over a long time (causing wilting and fruit to drop), too little water (drought), or by high temperatures (above 70F at night or 90F in day). If temperatures in your area are in the 90s, shade the pumpkin fruit during the day, for several days after a flower is pollinated. Make sure the plants have plenty of nutrients to support fruit development (but not too much nitrogen, which may deter fruiting), as well as sunlight. Insect damage to fruit, or the vine in general, can also cause fruit to abort–check for squash bugs, cucumber beetles, tarnished plant bugs, squash vine borer, etc.

My thumb is too green!

I've never been into gardening. I decided to try pumpkins this year. I had about a 99% success rate with my seeds.

I got very confused on the hills concept. I didn't spread my seeds out. They are pretty close to each other on each hill. I was able to transplant some of them.....but I am afraid to continue.

What will happen if I let them grow as is? I have 6-8 plants growing in the same spot. Also, I planted these in my front garden, side of the house, and along one side of the fence each hill is 4-8 foor apart. Lots of sunlight. Also, I have kept them watered. I did not water them yesterday, and all of the plants that were exposed to the sun looked wilted. I watered really well....made sure there was standing water in the trench surrounding the hill.....and they perked right up.

Can i keep them all? Or do I have to thin them?

thinning pumpkin seedlings

It would be best to thin them to 2 to 3 plants per hill. Select the most vigorous looking to keep, once they get a few inches tall. Snip off the ones you don’t want at the base (do not pull them out, or it may disturb the roots of the others you want to keep). Thinning down to just a few plants reduces competition for water and nutrients (pumpkins are thirsty and hungry plants), gives each plant more room to grow (they love to sprawl!), and allows more air circulation (very important for combating powdery mildew, a troublemaker for pumpkins). It sounds like you have a great pumpkin patch coming along! Good luck!

Vines, flowers and leafs dead on one side

I started noticing powered mildew, so I have been treating it best I can, but the other day I came out and half the pumpkin patch had died, like over night. The Vines had turned yellow and brown and we're dying, all the flowers have died off along with half the leaves. Can can I do, to save the plants, also I was recommended to cut off the dead Vines, and all the dead leaves but at a loss here. HELP!!!!

powdery mildew

If you are sure that your plant has powdery mildew, cut the diseased vines and leaves to try to avoid its spread. Be sure to clean your pruners with a diluted bleach solution (about 1 part bleach to 9 parts water) before each cut, so as not to spread the disease. Toss the affected vines in the trash – do not compost or bury in the soil, as the disease will linger. Powdery mildew can spread through the air; it thrives in warm temperatures and humid conditions (such as from dew or rain), especially if there is poor air circulation. Avoid overhead watering – water at the base of the plant instead so as not to wet the leaves, and water in the morning, so that the sun can dry surfaces before nightfall.

Spray the top and undersides of remaining healthy leaves, as well as the vines and stems, with fungicide registered for edible plants/pumpkins. For more information, see:

If you have pumpkins on the vine that are close to mature size, leave them on the apparently healthy vine as long as possible, without encouraging rot, to help them to ripen as much as they can. When powdery mildew infects a vine, sometimes the yield, taste, and quality of the pumpkins will be affected (such as reduced size, and sunburn), especially if they can not reach full maturity. If you must harvest a developing pumpkin, such as from a diseased vine, then you can try to ripen it by washing it, drying thoroughly, and setting it out on a sunny patio or similar dry spot in the sunshine (take in at night). Or, you can choose a spot indoors that receives strong sunlight. Rotate the pumpkin during the day to expose all sides to the strongest sunlight. Sometimes, if the pumpkin is past a certain point in its development, it will eventually turn orange (within a few weeks).

giant pumkins

I have 2 pumpkin plants when pumpkins have been getting between 5 to 20 lbs they quite growing now have one that got to about 80 lbs and it stopped . Plants look healthy and have been fertilizing. watering and all the things that your to do trying to grow giant pumpkins. what is wrong, live in eastern Nebraska

giant pumpkin tips

hail damage

Hi. Great article. A neighbour gave my son and I some sort of giant pumpkin variety in early to mid june. I transferred it from a small pot it came from a nursary in, into the largest pot I could find - about 2.5ft tall and at the widest diameter as well. Week one : did nothing. Week two: began to look very healthy. Week three : few new, smallish leaves and the beginnings of runners. Week four: went nuts, some leaves nearly 2ft across, flowers starting all over plant. Next week: runners hit ground and spread around pot 6ft more. Different flowers starting.
A week and a half ago.....we had a very local, very destructive (think large dents in trucks) hailstorm. Our pumpkin looked like it had been thru a bailer (baler?)
I decided to wait and see if it would recover. Now, it has one new leaf, and a few of both sexes of flower. My question is if I should be pruning off the dead, dying, and or damaged leaves, vines, or flowers?
I'm not expecting a prize pumpkin any more, but it would be nice to have one to carve this year.
I live near edmonton, alberta. I've had the pot on a cement pad where a garage used to be in my back yard.

Cure time

than you very much for the article I learned a lot ..I have a question about the cure. You mentioned that it is necessary to leave the pumpkins to receive sun. do I leave the pumpkins overnight or bring them inside when it gets dark? Thank you

will they keep growing?

Do pumpkins continue to grow after they change to orange? the ones i planted are supposed to be a med-large jack-o-lantern variety and they are about 2/3 of the way to being 100% orange and they're only roughly the size of a football... and is it too late to try again for bigger ones? I live in central CA and it stays pretty warm well into the fall season..

pumpkins turning orange

Yes, the pumpkin will continue to turn color after harvested as long as it has already started to turn color. (If green, they will not fully turn color off the vine.) In fact, many people harvest early to avoid pests and rot. You normally need 90 to 120 days to grow a pumpkin so that’s not a lot of time!

harvesting pumpkins

It depends. If the plant is healthy, yes, the pumpkin may keep growing. If the stems are withering, no, it’s done. The best way to really determine when a pumpkin is “done” is to know when it is ripe. The skin should grow hard so that you can’t puncture it with a fingernail. Tap it and it should sound hollow.

Pumpkin color

Field pumpkins continue to turn orange off the vine. One tip as a certified giant pumpkin grower, you should provide a shelter above the fruit to shield it from UVB rays which leads to sun scald. Temps hovering around the 90's are hard on any pumpkin plant. Also, provide even watering either along the vines by hand or drip method and avoid the stump area. You can also set up an irrigation drip system attached to your water source at your home. In the beginning, many gardeners believe synthetic fertilizers are best, but try to adopt an organic way using either products from Hollands or Advanced Nutrients. If interested, you can look at my grower diary (biddygoat). Thanks to The Old Farmer's Almanac, I only grow according to their suggested moon favorable dates. My veggies and flowers are county fair winners!! I wish everyone the best growing season!

Pumpkins in August

I'm looking for Pumpkins at the end of August and many places in California don't have them until mid-September or October. I've called over 12 farms and pumpkin patches and grocery stores in addition and they all mentioned the same thing. Where can I find pumpkins in August. Are they easier to grow in northern states where temperature is cooler?
Any recommendations as to where to purchase them would be very helpful. Thank you!

pumpkin harvest times

Hmm. Pumpkins do not like cold weather, and it takes between about 90 to 125 days to grow them. So, you want to avoid planting too early, unless you start them indoors, and also avoid planting too late, where they can be nipped by fall frost. Since they require a long season, having them available in August would mean planting minis around mid-May or others around mid-April, which would usually suggest starting them indoors. It is possible, but likely farmers time it so that their crop will ripen around autumn for fall decorations and for Halloween festivities. If you grew your own, you could certainly time it for August, but it may be hard to find them available commercially in that month. Look south, in warmer areas with longer growing seasons – perhaps try smaller farms that might specialize. Good luck!

Would that the word, "hills" had never been used.

"Hills" drain. As you put it, a pitcher's mound is a better example. I cannot convince anyone in the family that it is not logical to plant anything on a raised "hill" because all the water drains off. You can see it draining off immediately. Blasted "hill" instruction.

Growing pumpkins by accident!

Last winter, we threw an old pumpkin away in a raised garden area we weren't using. We had recently moved in and hadn't gotten that far! We now have so many vines with pumpkins forming I don't know what to do! They are EVERYWHERE, in the raised garden and all over the adjoining lawn area. They will obviously grow too soon, or IS THERE A TOO SOON?